Model turned actor John Abraham has the looks and talent to compete with the best in Bollywood. His new release Taxi 9211 has done very well at the box office.
Currently John is preparing to go on a world tour titled Rock Stars, featuring himself, Salman Khan, Shahid Kapoor, Zayed Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Esha Deol and Mallika Sherawat. The show has been reported to be scripted and directed by the Morani Brothers and produced by Esquire Viva Entertainment. The two month tour which starts on April 13 in Dubai will cover 18 cities in the US, Canada and UK.
John Abraham recently opted out of Mani Ratnam's Guru because the shooting dates clashed with the Rock Stars world tour, a measure of the confidence the star has in himself.
Earlier, John had walked out of debutant director Reema Kagti's film, Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd., produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidwani, because of problems with shooting dates. Arjun Rampal was signed in as John's replacement. However, that in turn prompted Shilpa Shetty to turn down the films because, as the gossip goes, she had signed up for the film only because of John Abraham! Dia Mirza has now been signed up to replace Shilpa hopefully arresting the domino effect.
After making a mark in Bollywood, John is now reaching out to global audiences through Deepa Mehta's Water, a film about Hindu Widows of 1930s. John's character in the film is that of an idealist who falls in love with a widow played by Lisa Ray. The film, which has won many accolades, was a great hit in Canada where it was screened as an opening film at the Canada Film Festival. Last month Water won the Best Film award at the Bangkok International Film Festival. It is now scheduled to be screened as an opening film at the Indian Film Festival at Los Angeles.
John holds Amitabh Bachchan in high regard, grateful that the mega star accepted to work with him when other big names were turning him down as a costar. The two worked together in 'Aetbar' and 'Viruddh'. John will be seen with Amitabh Bachchan in three of his upcoming films, Ravi Chopra's Babul, Sriram Raghavan's sweet romantic comedy "Happy Birthday" and Karan Johar's Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna.
John walked the runway on the opening day of Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai on Tuesday. He made an appearance at the end of the show wearing a black wedding suit and received a big applause from the audience.
The young star has now also become a popular choice for brand endorsements because of his across the board acceptance amongst the audience. He is brand ambassador for Diet Pepsi, FastTrack, Samsung, Wrangler and Yamaha. He is known to endorse only brands that fit his profile just as he is choosy about his films. He, however, admits that he still needs that one big film.
Finally, John is a UN ambassador for drugs and crime.
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